Author Terry Barber Discusses Social Media’s role in creating a Most Inspiring Company – Part 1

Terry Barber is the Chief Inspirator at Inspiration Blvd. and has written a pretty great book called The Inspiration Factor. We like him because he’s one of those guys who always leaves you smiling after a conversation. So we wanted to share some of his words after a webinar he held today:

“After a recent presentation on our Most Inspiring Companies survey, I was bombarded by attempts to credit social media for the ranking of America’s Most Inspiring Companies. There was this ground-swell of response that can be summed up like this: “well, if we had the social media presence of Microsoft, Google, and Apple, we’d be Most Inspiring too!” Though it’s true these brands have a great social media presence, what is more important is that the Most Inspiring Companies seem to have three other elements in common:

1. They have a great story to tell. Consider the Tom’s Shoes story. It’s simple and it is contagious. “One for one.” The Microsoft story, simple, on brand, compelling, “Accelerating change through technology” as they unleash a cadre of social entrepreneurs. As a company, you do not have to have millions of dollars to give away to create a compelling and contagious story. You just have to do something to help make the world a better place and then embed it into the fabric of your company culture. It could be as simple as providing employees with a day of month of pay to volunteer for a local charity. Or do a scaled down version of what Target does and set aside a small percentage of pretax dollars for charitable investment. You do not even need a public relations agency to promote it. The participants and volunteers of what you do will tell and re-tell the story. Having a social media presence is nothing more than having a vehicle by which to travel in. You still have to pack it up, put fuel in it, figure out where you want to go, start the engine and go. What’s your story?”

We’re going to get to Terry’s #2 and #3 elements tomorrow. Stay tuned….

Joe Wehinger is the CEO of United Digital & Associates and the Publisher of this magazine Daily Ovation. He enjoys (and writes about) food, wine, spirits, travel, technology and philanthropy. Mostly, he likes to get people excited and curious about the things that get him excited and curious. Thanks for reading!

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